Aeternity, a blockchain development lab in Liechtenstein, has launched a public testnet. The idea is to invite interested parties to download the code on GitHub and run a smart contract test, wrote cryptocoinnews.com.

By announcing a testnet, Aeternity seeks feedback on its plan to build a blockchain solution for verifying, storing and executing smart contracts, founder Yanislav Malahov has said in an interview with cryptocoinnews.com.

“This is an opportunity to get hands-on involved in the next evolution of blockchain development”, explained Malahov.

How it works

Users can run a test version of the latest software on Ubuntu, an open source operating system. However, it is also necessary for them to use Erlang, a concurrent, general-purpose, functional programming language which is used in addition to other libraries.

“We will eventually present a polished, highly scalable blockchain architecture with a consensus mechanism, which is also used to check the oracle”, said Zack Hess, Aeternity`s technical lead as quoted by cryptocoinnews.com.

He explained that a blockchain can use its oracle to find out facts about the physical world, for example, it can find out the results of a football game or who won an election.

“Aeternity’s oracle will not only be decentralized, but very efficient and cost-effective because it avoids layering one consensus mechanism on top of another”, commented Hess.

Hybrid consensus mechanism

The proof-of-work model of consensus will be provided by testnet. In the test phase, the “mainnet” platform will be based on a hybrid between proof-of-stake and proof-of-work consensus mechanism.

The mainnet version is expected to launch in early 2018, while Aeternity will offer an initial token in the first quarter of 2017, wrote cryptocoinnews.com.